


A reason to stay

by castieldeansangel, Perry18Love



Series: Time and Space: The Doctor and Elizabeth Sheppard [2]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Tenth Doctor Era
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-15
Updated: 2015-06-15
Packaged: 2018-04-03 02:44:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4083661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/castieldeansangel/pseuds/castieldeansangel, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perry18Love/pseuds/Perry18Love
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elizabeth Sheppard is the new doctor's companion, but it won't last very much unless he shows her that traveling around space can be amazing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A reason to stay

"Doctor, I told you I wanna go home!" He gave me the saddest smile I had ever seen for the third time and I literally felt how my heart was broken into a million pieces... but I knew I couldn't keep going, that life was surely amazing, but it just wasn't for me.

"Fine, but let's have one last adventure!" 

"You said the same thing the last time" I frowned at him, I was angry because he knew I couldn't stand the idea of him being sad, so he took advantage of it.

"This will be the last time, I promise!"

"Alright, one last trip." I gave up, sighing dramatically.

The Doctor's face lightened up "Brilliant, Elizabeth! I know the best place to say goodbye!" He smiled and started to manoeuvre with the controls.

**

"Where are we, Doctor?" I looked around, delighted. The place was just beautiful. Everything was green, a brilliant and soft green. There were plants I did not recognise and gigantic buildings, each one had different shades of green. 

"We are in Kielapto. In the Messier 83 Galaxy, which is about 15 million of light years from yours." 

"It's kind of far so it must be special." I looked at him and he had a smile that said "Oh, you have no idea of how extraordinary this is gonna be!" I grinned, really hoping for him to be right this time. 

"It is tremendously noteworthy, you wanna know why?" He wiggled his brows at me and I laughed.

"Let me guess: It has the best ice cream in the whole universe." 

"I swear it was there, but the owner died and the recipe got lost!" He whined, looking embarrassed about our last misadventure. We had gone to Iceoclophas because there was supposed to be the best ice cream shop in existence; with the sweetest ice cream you could ever have the privilege to taste. But there was a little problem: the owner and creator of the so magnified ice cream had died, taking the recipe with him. So our trip became the worst of disappointments, not only because of the lack of ice cream, but because these weird creatures called Creaons abducted me and tried to exchanged me for the Tardis. Thankfully, the Doctor saved me and made a deal with the Emperor of the Creaons, though I have no idea what their agreement was. 

"Don't worry." I reassured him. "It wasn't that bad."

"I knew you enjoyed it! But you haven't guessed what's so unique about this planet." 

"Oh, that's right" I thought for a second, but I had no idea of what it could be. "I have no clue."

"Elizabeth Sheppard, you are such a bad guesser!" He mocked of me.

"I know, now tell me!"

"Sure, Miss. Sheppard. The greatest attraction in Kielapto is the Myzma, the biggest and most dangerous maze in the whole universe. Only the most reckless adventurers have entered."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"And how many have come out?" 

"Zero."

"Oh." My excitement disappeared rapidly, fear taking his place. 

"And we, my dear Elizabeth, are going to be the first ones to come back alive!"

"Really?" I wasn't at all surprised, the Doctor was the craziest and most temerarious person I had ever known.

"Of course."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I have an amazing sense of orientation." A smug smile plastered on his face. 

"I bet that when you were born they gave you two options: Cool hair or modesty. And I know which one you chose!" I winked at him, smirking. 

"Oh, c'mon! I'm not pretentious. And thanks for the hair thing." He smiled, pleased.

"Whatever."

**

The Doctor was prattling around about one time he went to a planet, whose name I can't pronounce, and the Queen condemned him to death because he refused to marry her daughter. When they asked him what his last wish was, he said he wanted to go to the restroom; he went to the Tardis instead. I was so focused on the Doctor, that I collided against someone. 

"I'm..." I started saying, but the other... person cut me off. 

"My apologise, my name is Kiop. Welcome to Kielapto." A giant person with an exaggerate amount of blue hair offered me and the Doctor his hands, the Doctor took his right one and motioned me to do the same with the other one, I took it and he shook both of our hands. It felt really warm and soft. 

"Hello, Kiop! My name is the Doctor and she is Elizabeth." 

"Happy to meet you. I have to go or my mother will chide me." And with that he ran away.

"That was a..." 

"Kielopt. That was their way of greeting people, they are very kind." He explained, smiling. 

"Kielapto, Kielopt, Kiop. They lack of creativity or they really like K's." I joked, but of course, the Doctor wasn't paying attention. He was looking attentively what seemed like the entrance to a hedge maze, though it was impossible to tell because the "walls" were extremely high. "Is that the..."

"Yes. It's beautiful." We appreciated it for about a minute, then the Doctor started walking toward it. 

"Wait." I demanded following him, I hated it when he did that. 

As we were just about to enter, a Kielopt stopped us, this one was even taller than the other one, but thinner. 

"Don't get in there." She pleaded. "My son, Keip... he entered the maze a month ago and he never came back."

"Oh, my God. Why did he go in there?" I inquired, worried. I couldn't imagine what she was feeling. 

"I don't know, the last one who saw him was his best friend. He said he was following something. I miss him so much." I wasn't sure, but I think she was crying. I did the only thing I could do, hug her. 

"We'll find him." The Doctor said, making me jump. I had forgotten he was there. 

"You will?" There was hope in her eyes.

"Yes, we will." I promised, sounding much more confident than I was. 

And with that, I walked into the maze. That time it was the Doctor who asked me to wait. I didn't hear what he said when he started walking by my side because I was too busy trying not to turn around and run like a scary child. 

**

We had been walking for about an hour, the maze was complicated but boring; it was sad, it's color was dark green that made everything seem more dangerous and gloomy. 

"Who made this?" I blurted out, interrupting the Doctor's babbling. His talking seemed endless. 

"What?"

"This, the maze." I gestured to the giant walls around us.

"Oh, yes. No one knows. There are some theories, though." He looked at me, expectantly. I knew he was asking for permission to explain, so I nodded, a grin was drawn on his face immediately. "Some say it was constructed by the Myzroms, they are a species who nowadays live in Lekairos. They are not originally from there, of course. But they don't know where they come from. There was a war, many died and just a few survived, they looked for a new planet and made it their home." His expression seemed empty, as if he was remembering something, something painful. "Anyway," he continued after a moment "they think their ancestors came from here and that they built the Maze, that would explain the name. But they are not sure, because the question that remains is: who keeps it this way? It seems like it doesn't grow, it's always perfect, even if no one takes care of it"

"Neat." The Doctor looked at me, pretending to be annoyed. He hated that word, so I tried to use it as much as possible. 

"The second theory, and my favourite one too; is that no one made it. That it grew by itself and remained that way. That nature, or the planet wanted it to be like this, so this way it is!" 

"A self-made maze. Fascinating."

"I knew you'd like it." I rolled my eyes as his smug smile appeared. 

He kept talking and I listened to him mindfully. Then, something caught my eye.

"Did you see that?" I asked the Doctor, but he obviously didn't hear me. It seemed like someone running but I wasn't sure because it was too fast and it had disappeared before I could recognise it. I looked around, until I gazed someone standing in the right, smiling. He ran again and I wanted to follow him. The Doctor was so into his talk that I decided not to bother him and go in an adventure by myself.

"Wait" I murmured as I ran after the boy, he was a Kielopt, shorter than ones I had seen before.

"I can't wait, I'll lose him." He whispered back. 

"Who?" I asked, confused. 

"The cat."

 _The cat?_ I intended to ask, but fell down before the word came out, I yelled instead. 

The boy turned around and looked at my bleeding knee. He looked at whatever he was following and then back at me. He was having an internal fight, the one kindness won. He stopped and approached me. 

"Are you okay?" He asked me, concerned.

"Yes, sorry you lost him."

"Don't worry, I'm never gonna catch it anyway." He smiled, taunting my knee. I winced, it hurt. He took a bottle with a weird liquid from the backpack on his shoulders and poured it on my wound. It stung at first, then it felt fresh and cool, the pain was gone. 

"It doesn't hurt anymore, what is it?" I asked, reaching for it. He let me take it and I examined it. It looked like amber, I opened it and smelled it, it was a sweet, like nothing I had ever smelt.

"I don't know, I stole it from my brother. He is a doctor." He smiled, he didn't look embarrassed at all for confessing his crime, actually he seemed proud. 

"Stealing is not good."

"I know, but I needed it. I knew the maze was dangerous." He explained. 

"If you knew it, then why did you get in?"

"I wanted to catch the cat." He said simply. I was dumbfounded, there was something terribly odd in there. 

"You keep mentioning this cat... What cat?"

"The last cat in this planet. They said that they all got into the maze and no one ever saw a cat again. They also say that if you follow one, they'll lead you to where everyone who has ever disappeared in the maze is."

"And why do you want to find them?" 

"Because my father is one of them." Oh, that explained a lot. 

"What's your name?" 

"Keip." He answered. That explained even more. "Yours?"

"I'm Elizabeth. I met your mother, she is worried."

"I know, but I will comeback. As soon as I find my father." He sounded confident, that made my heart ache. 

**

"And that's why you should never call "Potato" a Sontaran with a massive disintegrator ray." The Doctor finished his story and turned to see Elizabeth's expression. 

_Elizabeth._

She wasn't there. He looked around, vainly. She had been gone for a long time. He tried to recall the last time she had spoken. _"Did you see that?"_ She had asked. He had ignored her, and now she was gone. "What were you thinking?" He scolded himself. "Okay, now I'll have to find her. Think." He focused on bringing her back. He leaned against a "wall" trying to make a plan, when something attracted his attention. He looked up and there was a white, slender and elegant cat. An idea came immediately to his mind. He knew what everyone said about the maze and cats, and he knew Elizabeth would probably think "Oh, a cat. It's cute, let's follow it." So he followed the cat. "C'mon, little cat. Take me to my companion.".

**

We were walking slowly, talking about our lives. "So," he started "why are you here? You are very far from home." 

"Well. I have this friend, he is a Doctor, like your brother. We... travel together." I said, the kid was very intelligent and it felt nice talking to him. "He wants me to stay with him, so he is trying to show me how great travelling is."

"Why don't you want to stay? I'd love to have the opportunity to travel around the universe!" He stated, dreamily. 

"I thought the same as you, that's why I accepted to travel with him. But it's not as I imagined it would be." I sighed.

"Then I bet your life on Earth used to be amazing, if you rather coming back than travelling." I was going to say something else, when the cat stood in front of us. "Let's go!" He shouted as he followed it, I did the same. 

While we were running, I thought about what he had said. My life on Earth wasn't amazing, it was boring and useless. I had studied literature and I was writing my book, and by writing a book I mean sitting six hours a day in front of the computer writing a story I would delete at the end of the day because "it just wasn't the one". I was a parasite. I was 24, still lived with my parents and didn't help them with the debts. No one actually needed me on Earth, I didn't have many friends, I hadn't had a boyfriend since I was in high school and I had never worked in my life. Travelling with the Doctor was the only way I could do _something,_ I helped people, saved worlds and fixed things. I was finally living properly. And I didn't want it to end, not yet. 

My thoughts were interrupted when Keip stopped abruptly, making me crash into him and stumble to regain balance. "Why was that for?" I asked angrily. He didn't answer, he just stood there, frozen. I followed his glance and my mouth fell open. "No way." 

 


End file.
